Low Energy Play: Sticky Art

Saturday, 10 May 2014

This month's low energy play post is an idea that has been all over Pinterest for quite some time and I thought it would be perfect for play for those of us who don't have the energy or time for lots of messy play.

All you need for this play is sticky-back plastic, painters tape (although I actually used packing tape and that worked fine) and whatever you would like to use for your little ones to create their work of art.

Peel the backing from the sticky-back plastic, working from the top down. Stick the plastic to whatever surface you want to use, sticky side out. The great thing about this is is can be used on so many surfaces - cupboard doors, radiators (when off obviously!), house doors. I set mine up on our patio doors as I love the effect it created having the light shining in behind the pictures. I set up a piece for each H and J so there wouldn't be any arguments.

I then put together all the items I wanted to use. Initially I had decided it would be flower art, as I thought the idea of uses elements from the garden we love so much would be lovely. I saved some petals from a bouquet that had passed its best and then went out and collected some pansy petals, ivy leaves and some other bits. I split them between to two and added some stars I'd had in my craft drawers for years for a different element.

Unfortunately my idea of a beautiful flower scene didn't exactly play out and I soon learnt the children were enjoying the stars much more than the petals. A quick dig around in the craft box I have revealed foam stickers, buttons and pom poms so I passed those out and the kids went mad!

H was in her absolute element and if I'd had enough materials to last she would have stayed there all day. J spent about half an hour sticking, but eventually had enough and moved on. I can say though, that whilst I've been able to sit back during other activities, I've usually had to interact a little to show them what to do. With this activity I could sit back and have a cup of tea, totally at ease and they were completely engrossed.

All in all this took me about five minutes collecting and gathering and five minutes to stick it all down. And I love the result too, in fact I kept it up for a couple of days it was so pretty. The only problem was getting decent photos, due to the light behind it, so apologies for that!